Masdar completion delayed, goals scaled back

The project would not be completed until 2020 – four years after the original deadline – and may stretch until 2025

By

Staff

PublishedSunday, October 10, 2010

The ambitious clean-energy city is being built in the desert outside Abu Dhabi. (SUPPLIED)

Plans for an ambitious clean-energy city being built outside Abu Dhabi are being scaled back as part of a wide-ranging review of the $22 billion (Dh80.8bn) project.

The government-run company behind Masdar City said on Sunday the project would not be completed until at least 2020 – four years after the original deadline – and could stretch until 2025.

In an emailed statement, the Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company also said that while it still aims to be eventually powered 100% by renewable energy, it will no longer rely solely on on-site clean energy sources. That was a key goal of the project, which had aimed to be 100 per cent carbon neutral.

“Instead, the purchase of renewable energy from off-site locations may also be utilised as energy demands increase over the project's lifetime,” it added.